


The Truth About Santa Claus

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Derek Hale is a Softie, Derek is a Christmas Baby, Dom/sub Undertones, Established Relationship, Innocent Derek Hale, Kids, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Bingo 2017, Stiles Stilinski is a good husband, Tumblr Prompt, but barely there, santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-02 00:15:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10932972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Derek Hale believes in Santa Claus and that's really all there is to know....Except, not exactlyInspired by a prompt on Tumblr from @pale-silver-comb





	The Truth About Santa Claus

**Author's Note:**

> For Emma- AKA pale-silver-comb - for inspiring me to write this fic (and forcing me to change my theme line up *cough*) because this... THIS!!!!! is the cutest thing I've ever heard of in my entire life, it's for the "Mythology" theme because.. Santa has mythology right? (there's another fic I WAS going to use involving selkie!Stiles but that's my meet-cute now)

Derek Hale believes in Santa Claus and that's really all there is to know

....

Except, not exactly

Because Stiles has officially devoted his entire life to keeping the "Santa isn't real" secret so that Derek would have one single good thing in his life- one peice of magic left untouched by the horrors of the world

He found out right after they started dating, when they happened to be having "family dinner" and the sheriff- fully to get revenge on Stiles for not letting him have red meat for dinner- mentioned the time when Stiles peed on Santa Claus

"I was three-years-old, how can you hold that against me!?" Stiles shouted in frustration

"Because you _peed_ on the guy Stiles," the sheriff snorted back as he stuck a forkfull of pasta in his mouth

"Yeah and you told me that I'd get coal for the rest of my life for that- _thanks_ , by the way, for the mental trauma,"

"That's ridiculous," Derek snorted, taking a sip of his coke

"Santa would never give anyone coal for an honest accident,"

"No, but he might for biting a deputy,"

"That was ONE time!" Stiles shouted

"You never ACTUALLY got coal... did you?" Derek asked, sounding.... oddly broken-hearted....

"No, thankfully for my Satanic father has SOME boundaries," Stiles grumbled back, nose wrinkling in irritation

"What do you mean?" Derek asked in confusion

Stiles slowly raised an eyebrow, tilting his head

"I mean that luckily my dad was never cruel enough to put coal under the tree....?"

"Why would your father have anything to do with coal? That's Santa's job, but only for the _really_ bad kids, he never gave coal to Cora- even that year when she almost broke a teacher's arm- so his standards must be pretty high,"

The Stilinski men paused, slowly exchanging glances before the sheriff cleared his throat, putting on his best gentle face and biting his tongue

"Um.... Kiddo..... you know the truth about Santa right?"

Derek looked utterly confused, tilting his head to the side like one of those perplexed pugs

"What truth about Santa...?"

The sheriff winced, looking like he was about to put some poor animal out of it's misery

"That... he's not-"

"-Really mean enough to leave coal!! That... that entire coal thing is just a myth that parents make up to keep their kids out of trouble, _isn't it Dad?_ "

Stiles, on the other hand, looked like he was about to tear someone's head off of their body with his bare hands

And the sheriff had a sneaking suspicion he was going to be "someone" if he didn't answer this right

"....Exactly,"

"Really!? I always thought that coal thing was awfully out of charector, so all kids get presents?"

Derek looked like he was actually in the middle of experiencing Christmas morning now and Stiles just wanted to cry for atleast a dozen different reasons

"Yeah! Yeah absolutely, every kid from birth until they stop believing in Santa gets presents, except, you know, little psychos like Theo Raeken, he gets a visit from Santa's cousin Krampus instead,"

"I've heard of Krampus!"

"See? So you know I'm honest," Stiles chuckled, believing that to be the end of it as he went back to his food

"So... what's the cut-off age for Santa to give you presents?"

He had a mouth full of noodles when Derek asked that, wich was lucky, really, as it gave him time to think

"There's no cut-off age," Stiles finally replied

Derek was quiet for a moment, a look of incredible sadness coming over his face before hanging his head and going back to his food

"Oh," he said quietly

Stiles was quiet for a moment, eyebrows pinching in confusion

"Derek? What's wrong?"

"Well... if there's no cut off age then... does that mean you don't believe in Santa?" he asked sadly

"Um-"

"I know why he hasn't visited me in years, I'm an adult, and I... haven't exactly been a good one.... but you just turned eighteen last year, shouldn't you have been getting gifts from Santa until then?"

Well _that_ sentence just punched Stiles in the gut

"Dude, OFCOURSE I've been getting presents from Santa!! Why would you just assume I wasn't? I mean did I SAY I wasn't? And as for you.... you are not bad, Derek, and Santa doesn't just _stop_ coming to people who believe in him, and he sure as _hell_ didn't stop coming to you because you were bad, are you kidding me?! Dude, the reason Santa hasn't visited you is because... you're so kind and pure-hearted ... and Santa knew that you would never keep anything for yourself over the last several years because you were just blaming yourself so much... he thought you might only feel worse if he stopped by so he just gave the extras to kids who really need it, you know? He knew that you'd feel better knowing that than you would if you had them yourself and you'd probably give your stuff away anyway... my mom went through something similar when she was a teenager, so that's how I know the same applies to you,"

Stiles was wincing at every word, knowing that even if he was managing to keep his heartbeat steady there was no way Derek would believe that load of cra-

"Really?" he breathed in amazement

He swallowed- _roughly_

"Really, but you know... he's expanded his production team this year, a bunch of the younger elves have come of age to start working now so they're able to keep up the status quo he set AND make more, and now that you're in a place emotionally where you can probably receive gifts without feeling worse, he's DEFINITELY going to visit you this year,"

"How do you know?" Derek frowned

"I'm a faery Derek, I know these things," Stiles replied seriously

Derek swallowed, turning red and poking at his food

"I don't need Santa to visit me... he should be spending his time with kids, not an adult,"

"Derek... it doesn't matter how old you are, if you believe in Santa, then he's gonna stop by your house to thank you for that, it's only beleif that keeps him alive after all,"

Derek seemed to believe that all too much, actually, a look of utter awe and understanding on his face as he nodded, smiling shyly and ducking his head

"Thanks...."

"Don't thank me man, thank Santa," Stiles snorted back, clearing his throat and standing up

"I'll be back in a second," he said suddenly, taking off through the kitchen

Things were quiet for a moment as the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed through the house

"Where's he going?" Derek asked in confusion

The sheriff, entirely unperplexed, shoved another forkfull of pasta into his mouth

"I believe he just went outside to cry Son, pass the salt,"

 

~+~

 

That year Derek went downstairs to find a huge stack of presents under the tree and a note from Santa (in handwriting that looked _nothing_ like Stiles', thanks to magic) explaining the situation the same way Stiles had

The look on his face made Stiles go outside to cry again

 

~+~

 

The thing is, after that first year, Stiles started finding it more and more difficult to sneak out of bed and plant the presents under the tree

The first year had been fairly easy, they had moved in together before they actually started dating but had only been sharing a bed for a few months, it was easy enough for Stiles to sneak around, but after that... not so much...

Derek was as hypervigilant as Stiles was and he easily noticed when Stiles wasn't in bed with him and often came after him like a lost puppy- for obvious reasons, Stiles couldn't have that

But thankfully he had a pretty easy way of handling that problem- sex

Stiles had learned over time that Derek was one of those people who became incredibly sleepy after good sex, and after a few months of experimenting- _totally_ for the purpose of playing Santa on Christmas Eve- Stiles ruled that it took exactly three rounds to put Derek out of his head enough to make it impossible for him to wake up and notice Stiles gone- atleast not for the first few hours

It was a formula he had perfected over the years, and one that was pretty easy to keep a secret from Derek too, between an active sex life already being a pre-existing thing between them and the fact that Derek was a Christmas baby and just naturally assumed the extra attention was a birthday gift, he was none the wiser

But that didn't mean that protecting the secret was a peice of cake- not by far

Especially since most people were unaware that Derek was still a believer

"So, first kid huh? What age are you guys going to start playing Santa?"

Stiles should have stopped Liam right there and then, but he just wasn't fast enough

"What do you mean 'playing Santa'?" Derek asked in confusion

"You know.... buying gifts and signing them 'from Santa', putting them under the tree, doing the cookies and letter writing shtick?" Liam replied- equally confused by Derek's confusion

"Why would we impersonate Santa?" Derek pouted

Liam opened his mouth- and by the grace of God, Stiles managed to jump in and slap a hand over the beta's mouth before it was too late

"O-Oh uh, that's just a thing humans do sometimes, you know, because humans don't usually believe in Santa, they take precautions, all that stuff,"

Derek seemed a tad skeptical at first, but ultimately accepted it, nodding along as Stiles rushed to change the subject to making Gingerbread houses

Later, once Derek was outside hanging some Christmas lights, Stiles told everyone that he was trying to preserve a magical, sacred thing here, and that everybody else needed to just shut the hell up

Thankfully, they obeyed

Though once in a wile someone almost slipped and was met with Stiles' hand slapped over their mouth for a full five minutes as penance

 

~+~

 

Around ten years into this, the plans finally were interrupted

Stiles had come up with ways to avoid just about every type of spoiler possible, most of wich actually came from having kids and having to protect their innocence as well- wich was great for all _kinds_ of reasons, but .... there was just ONE problem with it....

Kids tended to socialize with other kids- and other kids blabbed, _alot_

"Daddy, is Santa really real?"

Stiles almost choked on his coffee, eyes wide and started as he spun around to stare down at his oldest daughter

"Tabby why would you even ask that? Ofcourse Santa is real!!"

"Are you sure?"

"Ofcourse I am, what makes you ask?" he pouted, crouching down to her level

"Alex said he wasn't real..."

Ah... one of the kids at the playground they frequented...

"Well you can tell Alex that your daddy knows for a FACT that Santa is real ok?"

She seemed a little skeptical... but ultimately nodded anyway, a pout on her lips

"Ok, thanks Daddy!"

"Ofcourse sweetie," Stiles said with a relieved sigh

Crisis averted.... or so he thought

 

~+~

 

The thing about shopping for "Santa" when you lived with a partner who still believed in him was that you had to do alot of Christmas shopping by yourself to avoid them seeing the Santa portion of the gifts

Stiles had started stashing extra cash at his father's house, in his old room, YEARS ago for this exact reason and always made sure he had plenty of excuses in the bank to be out of the house without Derek during the month of December so he could always have a reason if need be

Though admittedly most of what he did was pretty clever- use his dad's bank account to buy some stuff online, have it sent to his father's house, and then just give his father the stash-cash

And there was an even bigger pot of genius to that too- if Derek DID catch him hauling in the extra gifts, they'd all be in discreet packages and Stiles could just say they were none of Derek's business, go downstairs, and wrap them, since they DID occasionally order things online for eachother- it was PERFECT!

.... Except for now

Now, when Stiles had decided to go to a flash sale at Toys R' Us and then stop by the used bookstore on his way back and pick up some of the rare books he had ordered for Derek this year

Now he was standing outside about to unload the car and sneak in, when he looked up and yelped at the sight of his displeased husband walking towards him

"Where were you?" he asked briskly

"Excuse me? I think I told you I went out to get more Christmas cards,"

"You've been gone for three hours,"

"I decided to pick up some extra groceries wile I was out and the store was packed- plus I had to go to THREE different places to find the toffee you like to make those chocolate-toffee bark things,"

Derek's frown deepened, a suspicious look on his face

"You sure you didn't go out and buy more Christmas gifts?"

"Um, no? Why would I? Our Christmas shopping is almost done and we made an agreement to call eachother if we find anything else at the last minute for the kids, last I hear we were going to clean up our lists on Thursday- _together_ , why would that have changed?"

"Tabitha grilled me about Santa earlier,"

_Crapweasels_

"And?"

"AND ... I was just wondering if you were doing what some of the other parents were doing, that's all,"

"And why the hell would I do that when Santa visits our house every year- taking some of the pressure off of us AND our bank account?"

Derek gave a tense shrug, stepping around the corner to peer into the car

"See? All groceries," Stiles insisted

Derek picked through some of the bags, shoulders sagging a little as Stiles grabbed a papper bag from the back of the trunk and slammed it forward- the bag containing Derek's toffee, wich he knew the werewolf would be able to smell...

Derek deflated, starting to look guilty

"Derek Hale, are you starting to doubt Santa Claus?" Stiles asked sharply

Derek squirmed, biting his lip a bit anxiously

"N-No, I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me..."

"It's alright, just go inside, are the kids asleep?"

"Yes..."

"Yes what?"

"Yes Sir," Derek blushed

"Good- now go inside and run a hot bath for yourself, I'll be in after I put the groceries away,"

Derek gave a shy, obedient nod and ran inside, allowing Stiles to breath a sigh of releif

Never had he been more glad that he had decided to put the gifts in the back seat under a blanket....

 

~+~

 

Sadly, that hadn't been the only incident that year

On Christmas Eve Stiles had been doing what he did every year- playing Santa

The cookies were eaten, leaving only crumbs

The sounds of boots on the floor and jingle bells had been played on a recording Stiles had to fool the sleeping werewolves and other sensitive-hearing children in the house

And he had JUST finished putting the gifts under the tree when he heard it

_"'tiles..?"_

Every ounce of blood in his body turned to ice as he turned around, spotting an extremely sleepy, delirious Derek standing in the corner rubbing his eyes

Oh _hell_

"Why're you down here?" the werewolf yawned

"Um... I had a headache... but I couldn't find the Excedrin so I came to get some out of the cabinet down here.. from the pillbox in my wallet,"

Even Stiles didn't believe that

"Ok," Derek yawned

But apparently sleep-hazed, still partly sex drunk Derek would believe absolutely anything

"C'mon, let's go back upstairs ok? We need to go back to bed before the kids get the wrong idea and decide to start Christmas early,"

Derek gave a slight chuckle, nodding and leaning against his husband as he allowed Stiles to lead him back upstairs, pausing suddenly half-way to the staircase

"Derek?"

"Shh... listen..."

Stiles went silent, straining a little to listen and hearing.... jingle bells....?

He blinked in confusion, stepping over to the window by the front door and peering up into the sky

"Oh my God..." he breathed, watching in amazement as some sleigh-shaped blur shot through the sky....

"Santa," Derek yawned

"Yeah," Stiles breathed, starting to grin from ear to ear

"Santa,"


End file.
